2008 Garden in Review–Squash, Peppers

This year I planted 1 mini-pumpkin, 1 regular pumpkin, and 1 zucchini. We harvested 7 small pumpkins and 3 large (one huge!). On one hand, we didn’t get a lot of pumpkins, considering the space it took up (it sprawled to cover almost an entire box, even though I trellised them through the fence). Still, it saved me the $10-15 we would have spent buying pumpkins!

We are virtually no zucchini this year. Last year my son was crazy about it, and ate a ton. This year, not so much. The truth is, I’ve never come up with recipes to use zucchini that I’m crazy about. I’m not sure I’ll plant it again (considering the space it takes), but maybe tag team with a neighbor who grows it.

Peppers

I must admit, I had RAVING success with my pepper plants. I planted 16 squares, plus a few more squished in there. Each plant tended to grow 3-5 peppers at a time, and I think I harvested 3-4 rounds of them. I had peppers coming out my ears! I had more than enough for 2 large batches of salsa, and I still have a bag full in my fridge. I used the green bags to keep them fresh, and they lasted forever. Funny, because the plants themselves never got very big. When I pulled them up this fall I noticed some were root-bound.

Next year I may tame it down a little. But, if I have tons of tomatoes, I might need all the peppers! I loved the jalepenos (though they were small) and the bell peppers. I’d like to plant more sweet, non-bell peppers next year.

2 Responses

I “upgraded” from 6″ to 12″ last year. So, they are 2 vinyl fence rails high–probably just under 12″. I found I needed to do this for several reasons:

1. my gardens are surrounded by gravel that gets REALLY hot. The roots were getting too warm with just 6″ of soil.

2. The soil “sinks” and even when you start with 6″, it gets lower as the season progresses. I wanted mine to have AT LEAST 6″, so I made them taller. If you were using wood you might get away with 10″.

3. I wanted to grow potatoes and carrots–which require more depth. I could have built little 1’x1′ boxes and filled them with Mels’ Mix, but I decided to just upgrade the whole bed.